"The paper today said that homeowners should be raking and discarding all their leaves and removing any dry garden debris." thats standard procedure over here in fire prone areas at the start of the fire season. The idea is to remove anything dry that might provide fuel for the fire, particularly around the vicinity of the house and buildings because if you get a fire coming close then all it takes is some embers or sparks to set that dry fuel alight. I guess it's up to you but if you do get a fire coming through then every little thing you do to halt the fire could mean the difference between losing your house or possibly saving it. "I normally do my spring-clean up starting in mid-February, but it takes me 2-3 months to get everything cut back and cleaned up - and you can't even imagine the piles of clippings I generate." just my opinion, it's best not to do that pruning right now which will only generate more potential dry material. I would leave it until the end of the fire season and then prune away, that way you wont lose all that compostable material but you wont have piles of drying material lying around either.

Ooooh! NatvTxn! I love those Friktari Asters! Do they grow from seed? Where can I get some of those beauties? I would suggest to ShariDiane that you plant a lot of plants native to arid climates, like Yuccas, Agaves, Cacti, Succulents, Moss Rose, Sages/Salvias, and etc. You might be surprised to know that these were /are grown in traditional English Cottage Gardens, too. In England they are considered "Exotics" and lusted after as much as we desire to have their lush garden plants and bowers filled with roses. Ornamental grasses add colour and texture. Make sure that you get the kind that are not moisture loving varieties. Mulleins grow very well in hot, dry climates and look spectacular with their tall spires of buttery yellow flows that sway in the wind (and birds love the seed in summer and fall). Verbascums too love hot dry places and come in many varieties and color combos. Tall spikes covered in delicate looking flowers in vivid color combos. I have Verbascum nigrum. Yellow flowers with purple throats. The flower buds are purple. Beautiful grown with Mallows. Beautiful planted in with Purple Coneflowers and spikey purple Liatris (two ohers that do well in drought conditions and high temps). ry California poppies and Baby Blue Eyes for Spring colour (and sometimes they bloom again in Fall). They reseed like crazy and you will love it! A great Cottage Garden flower is the Garden Phlox. They do really well once establish. Mulch around them to keep their feet cool and help hold moisture. They are great drought indicators too. If those babies wilt, you will know the rest of the garden is in serious of need of a good watering. Mine just bloom right through the hottest times every summer and we get temps comparable to yours. (And we are having a severe drought here in Oklahoma). Phlox make a good background plant, adding colour and heavenly fragrance to any garden and they come if a variety of colours and sizes. When I lived in the Mojave Desert we planted cannas. They loved the heat. I just ran a soaker hose around them early in the nmorning once a week. Talk about a colour and beauty! They add a tropical look to the Cottage Garden and they come in dozens of sizes and colours too. Dianthus are very sturdy little perennial plants in hot, dry climates and well as annuals like zinnias & marigolds. 'Clove Pink' is a Cottage Garden must in any climate and they love full sun in dry places. And their fragrance - Mmmmm. I have mine growing amongst rocks in the hottest area of my entire property. Sunflowers, Strawflowers, Heleniums, Amaranthas do very well for me too. Sweet Allysums, both annual and perennial love the heat and talk about perfuming the garden air! Planted around rocks or along the garden path edges or stepping stones they thrive and bloom all summer and reseed themselves too. Snow-in-Summer loves dry, hot rocky places. Queen Anne's lace does well, both Cottage Garden classics. Nigella does well in many dry, hot places too. Winter Sow directly in your garden in late summer for best results. I agree that Irises are a good choice, and don't forget Daylilies. They are tough little plants and come in a 'kazillion' colour combinations with endless entries of fun names to choose from. Both of these are Cottage Garden favourites, too. There are many more. Hope these help. ~ Annie 5th Generation Californian now living in Central Oklahoma

I must second gardengal's enthusiasm for the Pacific Northwest! Truly a paradise for growing many, many types of plants, and the climate is so moderate which allows for a lot of diversity in planning your garden. Unfortunately, I am now living in Finland - which is comparable to Zones 3-4, and am practically having to learn how to garden all over again, LOL! Before moving here with my Finnish husband (the things we do for love!), I spent the last four years happily living and gardening in SW Washington State, and it was absolutely marvelous. I had little trouble with both insect and animal pests, nor did the climate and weather ever pose much of a problem. If anything, the extra rainfall in spring and fall, even showers throughout summer, proved to be quite a boon to both my flower and vegetable gardens... Truly, PNW looks lush and green ALL YEAR LONG! Don't let the misconception that "it's always raining in Washington" mislead you into thinking the more heat and drought-loving plants wouldn't do so well in the area... The PNW, as gardengal stated, can get pretty hot and dry in the summer time, but not to any extremes that would make it unsuitable for more delicate plants. PNW has a very moderate climate that gets a taste of everything, thus allowing for a huge range of gardening potential... Roses, hostas, ferns, and rhodos all thrive, just as do tomatoes and melons, even 'dry climate' favorites like succulents and some cacti do pretty darn well. Overall, it's just such a versatile climate, and an absolutely great area to live in. Lots of nature and wildlife, great fishing (especially salmon), thick and lush forests and rich meadow and farmland, friendly people, great clean air... And EXCELLENT gardening conditions!!! What more could one want? Aside from PNW experience, I spent my whole life living and gardening in Northern California - Menocino and Humboldt regions - and this would be my next suggested 'perfect' gardening area. Great weather and moderate climate, similar to PNW, but less wet and hotter summers, and the only real bad pest problems I encountered were the persistent deer.. but, I admit I was living in the 'wilderness' so it's quite natural to encounter 'wild' problems. Well, good luck in your search, and I just hope you consider the Pacific Northwest as a possibility because it's really such a lovely place to live, play and garden.

I was hoping there wouldn't be any big wildfires, but I knew it was a foolish hope, at best. When winds are in the 45-55 mph range, especially when in combination with low dewpoints, fires just happen. I haven't heard any news yet this morning, but those fires in NE OK, especially in and around Nowata County, seemed especially wicked from what I saw of them on the evening news. I know some structures, including at least one residence, were lost, but given that the wind was so strong, I thing those firefighters did an incredible job of saving as many structures as they did. I hope the livestock all were able to find green wet areas in which they could stand to escape the flames. The last report I saw said at least seven small towns were briefly evacuated as the wildfires approached them, but I don't believe the evacuations were long-lived. We didn't have winds quite strong enough to shred plants here, or at least not at our house, which is fairly well-sheltered from a lot of the wind due to being in a creek hollow. I also wasn't as worried about fires here because the 12"+ of rain that has fallen in the last few weeks has greened us up a lot, and we haven't even had a freeze yet. The NWS did come back at mid-morning and put us under a Red Flag down here, but we didn't even have a single fire in our county, as far as I know. Our worst wind gusts were only about 30-33 mph so it wasn't bad at all. I remember the Christmas Eve blizzard and I loved it. It was my first white Christmas ever, and I waited decades for it. It was pretty but I was over it in about 2 minutes. Let's face it....snow just leads to mud and muck and messes, so it is most appreciated when we are inside looking out at it, and then less appreciated when we're out stomping around in it trying to break up the ice in the animals' water pans or whatever. I like to look at snow, but I don't necessarily like being outdoors in it for very long. I'm a warm-weather person and every year it seems like the cold and gray gloominess of winter just drags on for far too long, while I am dreaming of spring and making planting plans. While it does seem kinda odd to be discussing fires and blizzards at the same time, and especially while some of us still have green gardens that haven't frozen yet and are still producing, I'm always mindful of the fact that our worst wildfires tend to occur during our winter wildfire season after everything is dry and dormant, and then also in mid-Spring when we get those wicked north winds before much of the countryside has greened up yet. The garden catalogs are starting to arrive, so it is beginning to feel like winter. We got down to 39 at our house last night and tonight will be about the same, but no frost and no freezing, so the garden lives on.